Disclosure: The following information is not professional advice, it is simply an opinion to help aid in the efforts of healing one’s mind. This is part of my individual mind, what may work for me, may not work for you.
Written by: Damon Shearer (Creator of THE III)
Date began: 28.11.23 - 4:36 PM
“a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome.”
Anxiety conjures many forms; nervousness, feeling sick, sweating, impulses, quivering limbs etc.
Dealing with anxiety for 2-3 years now, it can be a brutal thing and often can lead to panic attacks, rapid mood changes and increased stress among other things. Wellbeing can become heavily affected and reflect your overall life. - To those who suffer from anxiety there is multiple ways to help overcome / improve anxiety reactions and triggers to everyday things; and again this is ‘not’ professional advice, this is simply here for people to consume and take what they find useful.
Ways of improvement are as follows:
||| ‘Learn the art of going with the flow.’
Our minds often calculate many things all at once, if we tend to think about something, our brains can expand upon that topic immensely and draw multiple conclusions as to how that topic or situation might resolve.
‘Part’ of going with the flow is understanding that no matter how much we think about the possibilities of a topic, it will ‘not’ change the outcome, what will happen is going to happen. This is often easier said than done but…
Building understanding and awareness around this topic of ‘overthinking’ can heavily help you through the idea of uncertainty. I personally have found that when faced with unknown situations I find the best way to beat anxiety is to face it ‘head on.’ - Proving to yourself that you can overcome anything and defeating anxiety builds resilience and mental fortitude.
Be more open to opportunity, rather than rejecting every possibility due to uncertainty or a ‘possible’ outcome, release yourself from the constraints of worry; achieve this by accepting new experiences. This does take continuous practice, but the journey of ‘going with the flow’ allows one’s self to live life and not be restricted by it.
||| ‘Work on YOURSELF.’
The journey of ‘self’ development is a lengthy process but a rewarding one nonetheless. Simply breaking your life down into parts can help immensely with anxiety: Gym, Diet, Sleep, Hydration etc. all play a part in your mental fortitude. Work on these factors, and symptoms of anxiety may become ‘less’ apparent in your everyday life.
Journaling: the process of writing down your thoughts on physical paper with a pen or pencil. I find I am still working on this myself, but the simple process of writing out your thoughts on a physical surface will help translate your ‘mental thought’ into a real outlet; (Getting the words in your head, out of it). With continuous practice this will teach you about the benefits of writing words on paper. Too often in this modern era we become attached to our phones, computers and electronics dwelling in the world we call ‘social media’ where everything is a highlight reel; break free from this by returning to paper, something that has no distractions or comparisons, only YOU and YOUR thoughts.
Meditation: I recently have began this myself; 15-30 minutes of deep focused breathing sitting in a quiet or natural environment per day. The idea of sitting with your thoughts is incredibly powerful; as being the anxious people that we are, we are great thinkers and those thoughts can often be overwhelming or paralyzing. Sit with your thoughts and let your brain rest in this fast paced society.
||| ‘Be careful of self-expectations.’
Placing expectations on yourself that ‘you’ have to be the best always, can lead to life-long anxiety; the idea of not reaching where you ‘think’ you should be, can be a crushing defeat and if not treated with care can cause anxiety. I’ve experienced this first hand in music, sport and dance, the feeling of not being ‘enough’ or ‘skilled’ even when you are performing well is a dangerous path to go down and often can lead to you hating what you once loved.
For me personally, realizing that these ‘expectations’ can be turned into ‘goals’ can be heavily beneficial in aiding in mental practice; for example: “I’m not good enough for this” can turn into “I want to achieve this (skill) by the end of the month,” you turn negative self talk into a positive goal.
Now, where you have to be careful is not making that goal into a negative expectation, instead think of it as something to aim for but the world isn’t going to end if you don’t achieve it. Practice this as much as possible within any of your chosen fields.
The fear of not being good enough can give you consistent anxiety leading up to training, events, competitions etc. but if you learn to control it and set goals in a positive light its completely possible to overcome and maintain.
“a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations.”